Maybe you’ve heard that WordPress is an efficient different to Tumblr and are curious if that’s actually the case. Or possibly you’re looking out for a spot to host your new enterprise web site and need to know what every of those two platforms has to supply.
No matter your causes, you’ve come to the correct place, as we’re going to dissect the shocking similarities and drastic variations between WordPress vs Tumblr.
First, we’ll discover their professionals and cons that will help you perceive each platforms’ distinctive choices. Then, we’ll stroll you thru what makes them so completely different, highlighting which possibility makes essentially the most sense relying in your aims.
Lastly, we’ll supply a solution to the query of whether or not WordPress is an efficient Tumblr different or not and why.
Right here’s what we’ll cowl:
- What’s self-hosted WordPress?
- What’s Tumblr?
- What are the variations between WordPress vs Tumblr?
- When is self-hosted WordPress best for you?
- When is Tumblr best for you?
- Is self-hosted WordPress an excellent Tumblr different?
- WordPress vs Tumblr: Which possibility is best for you?
What’s self-hosted WordPress?
WordPress started its life as a running a blog platform again in 2003. And whereas it’s nonetheless a well-liked selection amongst bloggers at present, WordPress has grown into way more than that. It has develop into the world’s hottest open supply content material administration system (CMS) — making up a powerful 62 p.c of the worldwide CMS market.
You could have heard that there are two “variations” of WordPress you want to pay attention to: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Whereas at first, you would possibly suppose they’re the identical factor, in actuality, they couldn’t be extra completely different.
WordPress.com is a platform for internet hosting a web site, whereas WordPress.org is an open supply software program you need to use to construct that web site.
What’s a self-hosted WordPress website?
A WordPress website is a web site created by means of WordPress.org and hosted on WordPress.com. The “self-hosted” half implies that you, as the positioning proprietor, pay for assets like disk house and bandwidth from a webhosting supplier, set up and configure WordPress, and handle your web site your self.
Professionals of self-hosted WordPress
- It’s extremely customizable: You’ll be able to select from over 60,000 plugins and over 10,000 WordPress theme choices to increase your WordPress website’s performance.
- It permits for full management: You make each determination concerning your website, because it’s one hundred pc yours.
- It’s readily scalable: Managing your web site’s assets and functionalities is simple and reasonably priced.
- It’s optimized for ecommerce: WordPress helps an array of on-line retail options, making it a stellar possibility for internet hosting your ecommerce retailer.
Cons of self-hosted WordPress
- It has a steep studying curve: For those who’re new to webhosting, familiarizing your self with the WordPress dashboard will take effort and time.
- It doesn’t embody internet hosting prices: Whereas WordPress itself is free, internet hosting your web site and buying a customized area title is one other matter.
What’s Tumblr?

Based in 2007, Tumblr additionally began out as a easy running a blog resolution. However like WordPress, the platform has since expanded past its founders’ authentic imaginative and prescient, rising into a well-liked selection for bloggers, content material creators, musicians, celebrities, and influencers.
To provide you an concept of Tumblr’s dimension and scope, it obtained over 340 million month-to-month visits in April 2023 alone.
Not like lots of its running a blog rivals, Tumblr is particularly designed for microblogging — typically known as “tumblogging.” This implies it’s primarily helpful for publishing short-form content material like captioned photos.
Professionals of Tumblr
- It’s simple to make use of: All it’s important to do is create a free Tumblr account, and also you’re prepared to begin posting.
- It has strong social connection options: Tumblr makes it simple so that you can distribute content material, join with individuals in your trade, and develop your community.
- It’s optimized for visible media: Tumblr’s interface means that you can add photos, video clips, GIFs, and different digitized visible content material to your weblog.
- It’s free: With Tumblr, you possibly can skip buying a website title or discovering a internet hosting supplier and simply concentrate on sharing your content material.
Cons of Tumblr
- It presents restricted customization choices: Your selections are restricted on the subject of making your weblog appear and feel distinctive.
- It disallows website and content material possession: You don’t personal your website or content material for those who run a Tumblr weblog, which means your account could be suspended or terminated at any time.
- It lacks ecommerce choices: When you can make the most of premium add-ons to show your Tumblr website into a web based retailer, these choices are restricted and lack lots of the fundamental features a enterprise proprietor would need.
What are the variations between WordPress vs Tumblr?
WordPress is an open supply content material administration system, whereas Tumblr is a web based publishing platform. They’re each nice running a blog platforms and are owned by Automattic — an American internet growth firm.
However that’s the place their similarities finish, as the kind of running a blog expertise they provide couldn’t be extra completely different. Let’s discover precisely how they differ to assist decide whether or not self-hosted WordPress is an efficient Tumblr different.
Customization

With WordPress, you could have nearly full management over the look and operate of your web site. You’ll be able to select from a seemingly infinite variety of unbelievable themes and widgets and set up no matter plugins you need to add options to your website.
The WordPress block editor additional expands your selections for adapting your WordPress website, its pages, and the content material you distribute by means of it. The editor comes with tons of “block sorts” and superior settings you possibly can alter to customise every thing from textual content shadow to sharing permissions.
That isn’t to say that Tumblr doesn’t include customizable parts of its personal — it most definitely does. You’ve got the choice of customizing issues like your dashboard’s look, header photos, and font coloration.
As well as, Tumblr presents an array of free themes, templates, and colours you need to use to personalize your web page’s look.
Nonetheless, Tumblr can’t compete with the sheer variety of choices WordPress presents you by way of fashion, website construction, and modifying selections. If setting your web site aside from the competitors is a precedence, then you definitely’re higher off going with a self-hosted WordPress website.
Running a blog

As each WordPress and Tumblr’s roots are on the earth of running a blog, they’re superb choices for beginning and managing a profitable weblog. The query you have to ask your self is, “What sort of weblog would you like?”
Tumblr is good for those who’re trying to construct an off-the-cuff, short-form weblog with restricted functionalities. For example, you possibly can simply publish short-form multimedia content material like GIFs, video clips, captioned photos, and audio information to your Tumblr web page.
Self-hosted WordPress, however, is healthier for creating and publishing long-form content material. That is as a result of platform’s intuitive drag-and-drop web page builder and near-limitless capability for personalisation.
You’ll be able to add issues like built-in transferring backgrounds, galleries, and internet varieties, in addition to combine a ton of add-ons, plugins, and themes to your WordPress web site.
Socials
Designed to operate like a social networking website, Tumblr really shines on the subject of connecting individuals collectively. It instantly hyperlinks you with different Tumblr customers, presents associated and related content material, and means that you can set up authority on subjects by means of streamlined content material distribution processes.
With Tumblr, you possibly can simply like and reblog different customers’ posts and work together by way of social sharing buttons. These functionalities make increasing your social community and sharing your content material by way of social platforms extraordinarily accessible.
Whereas Tumblr appears like a bustling digital market, self-hosted WordPress seems extra like an remoted island — at the very least at first. With WordPress, you’re liable for advertising your website, including it to the Google Search Console, constructing your community, and integrating all platforms your self.
This provides you full management over your web site but additionally means it’s important to work a bit more durable to distribute your content material. A method you possibly can overcome this barrier is by putting in social-networking-oriented add-ons or advertising plugins.
Ease of use
Tumblr’s consumer interface is user-friendly and intuitive. From the homepage, it’s simple to navigate all through the positioning — each web page is clearly labeled with a recognizable icon or heading.
Even for those who’ve by no means used Tumblr earlier than, it’ll solely take you a few minutes to familiarize your self with the platform’s important features, akin to including content material or following different Tumblr creators.
This makes Tumblr an important possibility for informal bloggers who simply need to get their work on the market and aren’t too involved with carving out a nook of the web for themselves.
Organising and sustaining a self-hosted WordPress web site, however, requires a larger up-front time funding. You’re basically constructing a web site from the bottom up, and it may possibly take some trial and error earlier than you come across the fashion and construction that works for you.
That being mentioned, there are numerous on-line tutorials and assets you possibly can reference to learn to use WordPress.
Upkeep
And talking of sustaining your web site, there’s a giant distinction between the period of time it’s important to spend updating WordPress vs Tumblr.
For example, operating a WordPress web site means you’ll be liable for putting in and updating your web site’s plugins and software program, in addition to constantly monitoring efficiency and defending your website.
Additionally, selecting self-hosted WordPress means you’ll want to seek out your personal internet hosting options and register a website title.
With a Tumblr web page, you don’t have to fret about any of this. Tumblr takes care of all features of upkeep for you, so that you’re free to concentrate on creating and sharing your content material.
Search engine marketing

In response to HubSpot’s State of Advertising Report, search engine marketing (Search engine marketing) was the third most necessary avenue for entrepreneurs to spend money on, after short-form
video and influencer advertising.
This underscores how essential it’s so that you can focus by yourself web site’s Search engine marketing and why it’s important you host your website on a platform that has a robust observe report of delivering Search engine marketing-friendly options.
Coming geared up with built-in performance-enhancing options and presenting seemingly limitless choices for add-ons, WordPress dominates on the subject of designing an Search engine marketing-oriented web site.
Self-hosted WordPress makes it simple so that you can add alt textual content, streamline your website structure, insert a number of on-page headings, and alter your website’s settings for Search engine marketing. As well as, there are a ton of plugins you possibly can set up on WordPress that make designing an Search engine marketing-friendly website a complete lot simpler.
One of the crucial standard WordPress Search engine marketing plugins is Yoast Search engine marketing. This intuitive plugin comes with quite a lot of options that make web site optimization quick and accessible — no prior information is required.
Tumblr, however, is nice for visible media and image-laden content material, but it surely isn’t designed particularly with Search engine marketing in thoughts like WordPress is.
The platform isn’t constructed for producing the long-form content material Google values. It additionally doesn’t supply many alternatives to spice up web site rankings. You’ll be able to add titles and tags and customise URLs, however aside from that, your choices for optimizing your website are restricted.
Ecommerce

In the case of beginning an ecommerce enterprise, promoting merchandise, and getting the phrase out about your model, a self-hosted WordPress website is a extra viable possibility than a Tumblr web page.
When you may use Tumblr to advertise your corporation and even create a web based store by including premium themes, the platform lacks lots of the functionalities you’d need in an ecommerce retailer.
For one factor, you wouldn’t personal your personal ecommerce retailer. Tumblr would. And if, for no matter motive, you violated its Neighborhood Tips or have been simply unfortunate, your website — and your supply of revenue — may vanish in a flash.
In distinction, WordPress presents an enormous vary of ecommerce functionalities — which could be additional enhanced by the spectacular array of WordPress ecommerce plugins obtainable.
Particularly as a result of final management, flexibility, scalability, Search engine marketing options, and content material possession a self-hosted WordPress website presents, it’s the best selection if you wish to make your on-line retailer stand out.
Pricing
Each self-hosted WordPress and Tumblr are cost-effective webhosting options.
Tumblr is totally free, which clearly makes it an excellent finances possibility. You’ll be able to go for premium themes, which do value extra, however these are an add-on as an alternative of a requirement. The essential Tumblr web page comes with every thing you have to get began.
WordPress additionally presents free web site creation and administration companies. Nevertheless, you’ll nonetheless must buy internet hosting companies and register a website title to your website.
That mentioned, self-hosted WordPress plans typically value round $10/month. And a few internet hosting suppliers supply WordPress internet hosting plans for even much less. Selecting to host your web site with a dependable internet hosting supplier helps you make sure you’re getting essentially the most bang to your buck.
When is self-hosted WordPress best for you?
Listed below are some cases the place chances are you’ll need to use a self-hosted WordPress website:
- You’re constructing a sophisticated web site with many functionalities.
- You run a medium to large-sized ecommerce enterprise.
- You need to retain all of the rights to the content material you produce.
- You need to prioritize Search engine marketing.
- You need in depth customization choices.
- You’re trying to develop your corporation sooner or later.
When is Tumblr best for you?
Listed below are some cases the place chances are you’ll need to use a Tumblr web page:
- You’re a newbie constructing a easy weblog.
- Your focus is totally on visible media.
- You don’t need to discover internet hosting or keep your web site your self.
- You worth social networking and connection options above all else.
- You need to maintain prices as little as attainable.
Is self-hosted WordPress an excellent Tumblr different?
The reply is it relies upon.
For those who’re on the lookout for a high-quality platform with extra customization choices and functionalities than Tumblr, then WordPress undoubtedly is a good different.
Additionally, if you wish to retain possession over your content material and create a high-performing web site with Search engine marketing optimizations, WordPress is the best way to go. And for those who’re constructing a web based enterprise that wants a sophisticated web site or on-line retailer, the reply once more is Sure.
Nevertheless, for those who’re trying to construct an off-the-cuff weblog for distributing visual-heavy content material and aren’t too involved in customization, you’ll most likely need to follow Tumblr.
Plus, if you have already got a Tumblr website and your major focus is social media integrations and connection-oriented options, self-hosted WordPress wouldn’t essentially be definitely worth the added value and time funding to arrange and keep.
WordPress vs Tumblr: Which possibility is best for you?
WordPress and Tumblr share many similarities but additionally have clear variations that produce a diverging set of advantages.
Tumblr is a good resolution for informal web site house owners who need to reap the advantages of the platform’s phenomenal social media attributes and intuitive design.
In distinction, self-hosted WordPress presents you almost unequalled flexibility and scalability however at the next value and with a steeper studying curve.
In the end, the choice as as to if WordPress is an efficient different to Tumblr will rely in your distinctive targets, necessities, and priorities.
At Liquid Net, we provide WordPress internet hosting plans whose velocity, scalability, and safety are designed to satisfy your efficiency necessities. Our internet hosting packages include free web site migrations and 24/7/365 entry to our staff of consultants.
Contact us at present to find out how Liquid Net can assist assist the expansion of your on-line enterprise.
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